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And God said to Avraham , “I am the Lord, who brought you forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
Although it is clear from the text that Avraham believed God, he still had a question. On the surface he is asking for some surety that he will indeed inherit the land. But a closer look at the text shows that this was not his concern. He was more concerned over whether his children would want the inheritance.
He asks God, ” How do I know that I will be able to give it as an inheritance?”
God’s answer, “You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them, for four hundred years,” is hardly one that we would take as reassuring, yet it seems that Avraham accepted it as sufficient.
Abraham was not concerned over to whom he would leave his tents and his sheep. He was concerned over to whom he would be able to give his love of God, his faith in Him, as an inheritance. Would his children want that? What did Avraham see in God’s answer that reassured him?
Avraham’s question and God’s answer turn out to have immense meaning for us now. The themes of exile and redemption, indeed the need of exile and its redemption are on–going inner states of consciousness as Rabbi Ashlag explains in this discourse that he gave to his students.
This class is a translation and explanation of a an oral discourse given by the Baal haSulam transcribed by Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag in his work, Shamati. ( Arie Miskanot le Paroh) ( 1 hour)
My grateful thanks to the many chevrutas who learned this article with me this year.
Other Pesach talks on Nehora press are:
The inner meaning of Seder night
Who knows One? From exile to redemption
The inner meaning of the four cups
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